The Latest ESA Sentinel Mission Lifted Off, At 23:04 Central European Time, On Tuesday, 1 July... Excellent! [That's 6:04 PM US East Coast Time, This Evening.]

As we mentioned on Sunday -- we are enthused to have returned from our evening engagement to see that the ESA team performed flawlessly.

The package is now in a stable low-Earth orbit -- and drawing more than adequate solar power to run all mission ops. Woot -- here's a bit, of the latest:

. . .The MTG-S1 satellite has been designed to generate a completely new type of data product, especially suited to nowcasting rapidly evolving storms, with three-dimensional views of the atmosphere. Its Infrared Sounder will be the first European hyperspectral sounding instrument in geostationary orbit, allowing it to hover over Europe. . . .

ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, said, “These two groundbreaking missions are set to change the way we forecast both severe weather and the quality of air over Europe. It is thanks to the outstanding work our teams have done with Eumetsat, the European Commission and dozens of European industry partners, that we are able to now look forward to more accurate and timely ways of predicting storm events and air pollution. . . .”

MTG-S1 and Copernicus Sentinel-4 were launched on Tuesday, 1 July, by SpaceX on a Falcon 9 rocket, from Cape Canaveral in Florida, US. Lift off was at 23:04 CEST (17:04 local time). Acquisition of signal was confirmed at 23:39 CEST, followed by deployment of the satellite’s solar arrays, indicating that the mission now has sufficient power. . . .

Onward to a night under the stars tomorrow evening -- a huge picnic, with lots of old friends, the CSO and Nas, and the baby girls. Sweet.

नमस्ते